When building works take place next door, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is your safety net. If the works were properly notified (and, where required, a Party Wall Award was served), you already have a clear legal route to deal with damage—without having to plunge straight into an expensive civil dispute.

Here’s how the process works, what to expect, and how costs are typically handled.

First principles: the Act protects you

The Act allows a Building Owner to carry out notifiable works (for example, cutting into a party wall or excavating within specified distances), but it also puts firm responsibilities on them. Chief among these: they must avoid unnecessary inconvenience and are responsible for loss or damage caused by those notifiable works. A Party Wall Award—prepared by an agreed surveyor or two appointed surveyors—sets the ground rules for how the works are carried out and provides a ready-made mechanism to resolve problems if they arise.

If an Award is in place, you don’t need to “start again” legally; you use the Award and the surveyor(s) to fix the issue.

Step 1: Tell the surveyor promptly

If you notice cracking, water ingress, movement, or any other change you believe is linked to the notifiable works, notify the party wall surveyor named on the Award straight away. A short email or letter that describes the location, the timing (when you first noticed it), and any change since is enough to get the ball rolling. Copy the Building Owner (your neighbour) so everyone sees the same facts at the same time.

Prompt reporting helps the surveyor decide whether immediate protective measures are required and keeps the matter firmly within the Act’s dispute-resolution framework.

Continue Reading: Party Wall Damage Guidelines Lets Gets It Resolved